How To Package Artwork To Ship

How To Package Artwork To Ship

Packaging Your Artwork to Ship

We highly recommend that you invest in good packing materials for your artwork to ship in. Proper packaging is a wise investment especially if you will be sending your pieces back and forth to galleries.

What to do:If you are dropping off we highly recommend protecting your work with some type of bubble wrap or foam or box. Label these if you want them returned to you please.

Write your name and the name of your artwork large and clear on the sides of the box so that we can return the artwork back in the same box.

What kind of packaging is best to ship artwork? A clam shell box with a convoluted foam insert is THE BEST and makes packaging easy for you and your gallery owner to safely ship and remove your precious work. You can find examples of these here or a cheaper lighter version here or make your own with convoluted sheets and a clam shell box. If you are not going to package this way then we recommend wrapping your artwork in thick foam pads or bubble wrap bags and bubble wrap stuffing without tape.

Include a prepaid Shipping label if you want your artwork back. Place the shipping label in a clear shipping bag (free at major carriers) inside the box. It is free to open up an account with the major carriers and to get an air bill for prepaid shipping. Go to UPS, Fedex,DHLor USPS to open an account. All major carriers will gladly send you preprinted airbills with your ID on them (do not put your credit card information on a bill or we’ll go buy ourselves something pretty with it.) We prefer UPS but will accept any of the major shipping companies. If we do not receive a prepaid return label and your artwork does not sell we will consider your artwork a donation to the gallery.

What Not to do:DO NOT use packing peanuts or styrofoam popcorn to fill your box. It’s not only bad for the environment but it can single handedly drive the hardworking people putting the gallery show together absolutely BONKERS, as well as our janitor!!! If we see these annoying/messy peanuts/popcorn, we will quickly close your box and send it back to you. Do not use packaging tape to hold bubble wrap or foam together. Tape is not your friend! It may stick to your art and ruin it. Tape makes it time-consuming to open as well as difficult to reuse the packing material to send back your unsold artwork safely. If you must use tape use masking tape, but no more than 6 pieces of tape, otherwise we get grumpy! Of course, go ahead and use it on your box, but please stay away from it INSIDE your box. If you smartly get a clam shell box with a foam rubber internal padding, you will save yourself so much time and damage.
Do not use wooden crates to package your artwork. They are heavy so they are costly to ship, they take way too much time to unpack and repack, and they are highly vibrational so when dropped by shipping personnel they will break whatever is inside. We have a 50% damage rate with crates. We highly recommend a clam shell box (see above for links).

Absolutely No Peanuts or Popcorn filling in your boxes will be accepted. Why? Because we have to clean up after it, and it takes unnecessary time away from the things we need to do, namely hang artwork and prepare for our art shows. Time=money. So if you insist on packaging with peanuts or messy strofoam, there will be a $35 Janitorial Fee that we will charge you. Please follow this rule.

For more in depth information we recommend going to the following pages: